From my friend Chris M: I wonder how many people share both of these sentiments concurrently? The last U.S. election was invalid because the electoral college usurped the popular vote. The brexit results were wrong and we should have a revote. Indeed. When I hear the words “more Democracy” uttered, I simply hear, “I want […]

“This is, of course, a very unrealistic assumption … these operations are often extremely costly … to prevent many transactions.” That was him referring to the oft-straw man argument by opponents of Coasean insights about “transactions costs being zero.” Coase obviously knew that. And he obviously was making a different point. The Coase Theorem as […]

We need not recount here the very simple economics required to determine whether recycling makes sense. The reality of the recycling world is that most of the “valuable” stuff out there is already being recycled and reused, and the question on residential recycling is about how we deal with low-value or even value-less trash in […]

If you look at the major risks to human health and well-being around the world, you will quickly come to realize that climate change ranks nowhere near the top of the list. For example, the WHO and various other estimates show that something like 10 million people per year die from easily curable infectious diseases […]

Realtors are quite well known for trying to make their properties sound good, and use language and discuss amenities that potential customers find attractive. If inequality were such a huge concern, how come we don’t see reports of Gini Coefficients in real estate listings, or some other such similar measures? Now, sure, this is my […]

… for the “rules of economics” not to apply! How often have you heard things like, “during an emergency, the rules of economics don’t apply!”? Or, health care and the environment are too important for the rules of economics to apply. Economics just doesn’t belong here. If only! To suggest that the rules of economics […]

When you sit through a Physics 101 course, you are taught fundamental laws of motion, particularly Newtownian mechanics. You are then assigned problems that may go something like: you jump naked off of the Freedom Tower, and there is no wind velocity in any direction. How long until impact? And then you go ahead and […]

Another very interesting discussion with Thad Russell, this time with Bret Weinstein. Many highlights, but the back and forth on the actual meaning of post-modernism and the confusion about it starting at about the 29:30 mark is well worth listening to. I tend to fall on the interpretation that what is going on on campuses […]

It is good intellectual practice (probably not dinner party practice) to take your ideas until they can go no further. If I had one magic wand to wave, one feature I might consider is that all of our attempts to be liked or at least not appear to be one of the deplorables were seriously […]